Books!
I’ve been doing a lot of printmaking (I’m adding mini collages based on some autumn photos I took on Tuesday on Ebay daily through the weekend so check it out!) which requires a surprising amount of hand/wrist strength. Add in felted projects being knit on US 15s or 13s (depending upon the project) and all the computer stuff for the end of my on-line classes and my wrists and hands are bothering me too much to make any measurable progress in knitting and spinning.
So, to distract you from my lack of knitting and spinning to show off right now (but go check out my art blog as there has been a fair bit going on over there) I shall post about two knitting books I’ve spent some quality time with lately…
First up…
Snow kindly lent me Myrna Stahman’s Stahman Shawls and Scarves a while back. In fact, the mohair scarf I’m knitting for my grandmother is a pattern from this book. I must admit that when I borrowed this I was less than pleased with my lace shawl knitting skills so I only skimmed over the information on designing your own faroese shawl, but it looked good. Instead I concentrated on the seaman scarf directions. I have to say while the information is good it isn’t earth shattering if you’ve ever seen a seaman scarf. I suspect the shawl design stuff is much more valuable, but together those definitely do not make a book’s worth of information.
There are *many* patterns, most of which include a shawl and a scarf for a given stitch pattern. I didn’t find the stitch patterns to be that unique. However, I suspect this is *the* book for sizing and designing Faroese shawls so if that is of interest to you I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book. If you are just looking to learn a bit about the sizing of seaman scarves and have some good stitch dictionaries you might try getting it through your library or interlibrary loan (or a generous friend’s lending library) as it isn’t an inexpensive book.
Next Up…
Another publication by Melanie Falick
, Handknit Holidays. I’m only familiar with her Weekend Knitting book and not the others (and I’m really wishing to add that one to my own library) but this one is very much in the same unique style.
The photos are quite large and the projects mostly unobscured. There are several projects in there that are going in my knitting queue (though probably not for the holiday season) and many others that I’ve found to definitely be inspirational. I was raised as a Lutheran so Christmas is still very much my winter holiday of choice, but we have a varied group of friends - pagan, wiccan, athiest, Jewish, Morman, Catholic, etc. and I really appreciate how many of the projects are not Christmas specific. Also, many are just cold weather projects and not necessarily of a holiday nature, but would make great gifts for the cold weather seasons. Some would also work year around such as the felted wine bottle bags, lace photo mats, the shawls, the table runner, and the lovely pillows.
I also enjoy how Falick’s books that I’ve seen have side bars of tangential information. This one is no exception. There is a recipe for some cookies, tips on stress-free holiday knitting tactics (though many are not possible for this year as the book wasn’t out early enough to implement them), information on charity knitting and more. These books are ones that you can just sit down and READ, not just thumb through and scan the yarns used and yardage of the projects that interest you.
Many of the projects are bit advanced for new knitters. There is fair isle, intarsia, cabling, lace, etc. If you are a beginning knitter I’d suggest for this year you consider the simpler Holiday Knits book. There are many good projects in there, but they tend to be a little less complex which is great for deadline knitting! Then consider Handknit Holidays for next year!
